The best place in the world to chill out

Possibly the loveliest hotel we have ever stayed in. Utterly charming in its rustic simplicity without compromising exceptional comfort. Decor most beautifully thought out, down to the last detail. We hugely appreciated that.

The food was excellent: beautifully presented, innovative and irresistible every time.

There are no locks on the doors, and therefore no keys. It felt very liberating, and entirely safe, and thus it proved to be.

Most outstanding for us, however, were the staff. Friendly and efficient managers head up a team that impressed us enormously. Waiters, bar staff, housekeeping, gardeners - all were smiling and cheerful, efficient, unobtrusive, thoughtful, but above all, genuinely friendly without being over-familiar. They introduced themselves by name, whereupon we did likewise, and they never again had to ask us who we were but greeted us by name every time they saw us.

John impressed us particularly. (There are two Johns, but this one has risen through the ranks from gardener to housekeeping and is now a waiter. He also taught us to play Bao, which we are utterly hooked on!)

The staff in general behave as though they have a personal investment in the hotel and I think we have never met this feeling at any hotel we have stayed at before. It is the crowning glory of a beautiful place and we were really sad to leave.

Ras Kutani

Ras Kutani did not come up to expectations given the reviews we had read and its overall cost.

The location was good but the accommodation was shabby and the quality of bedding and towels was poor. Talking to others who were staying there we agreed that it requires a complete makeover or facelift. From the moment we arrived to the moment we left service was average and in general the management and staff did not seem to be customer focussed.

The actual food was excellent but the service and atmosphere was only average. We would advise any visitor to avoid filtered water given our experience.

There was little friendliness during our stay and we would not return or recommend this hotel to anyone else.

We were concerned to read this feedback for Ras Kutani, as it’s a lodge which usually delivers consistently excellent feedback – we sent it through to the managers for their comments. They apologised that these travellers had not enjoyed their stay. They were upset that the issues had not been brought to their attention while they were there, as they would have tried their hardest to address any issues as they arose. We’d always encourage guests to bring any problems, no matter how small they may seem, to the managers attention at the time – most issues can be resolved at the time!

They were surprised about the comments regarding the quality of the bedding and towels, and these have all been newly replaced in the past 6 months.

In regards to the water, Expert Africa have drunk the filtered water on several occasions and never found it to be a problem. By filtering drinking water instead of using bottled drinking water, Ras Kutani are helping to dramatically reduce the amount of waste they produce, however it may not be to everyone’s taste, and we’d encourage guests to specify if they’d prefer bottled.

Ras Kutani prides itself on a top standard of customer service, and we were sad that these guests didn’t feel it lived up to their expectations. However, feedback over the same time period from other guests was excellent, so we don’t feel there have been any overall changes to high quality we usually expect.

The D family from Devon

Arrived on: 20-Jul-2011 Stayed for: 4 nights

Overall:

Excellent

Location:

Excellent

Rooms:

Excellent

Service:

Excellent

Food:

Excellent

Activities:

Good

Facilities:

Excellent

Ras Kutani review

Great place to relax after a safari and very convenient for catching the early morning flight back to UK.

Ras Kutani review

A wonderful chill out following safari, this offered the complete contrast, from early morning calls and long safaris days. we were made to feel so welcome the manager Mark is a great ambassador for his company, he ensured our stay was exactly as we wanted. We were impressed to find out that Beho beho and Ras Kutani were in communication during what could have beeng difficult travelling times when the explosion at a military base near to Dar Es Salam airport occured, on the day of our transfer to ensure we arrived on time and without any difficulties.Ras Kutani is beautifully situated on an idilic coastline, beautiful sandy beach stretching for miles no sign of any other holiday makers except those at the resort.(and they were not many)! Despite the isolation and relative peacefulness, there is plenty to do, snorkelling and surf boarding,walking and visits to the local village all ensure time never lingers. The staff are very polite and offer a quiet presence ensuring comfort and relaxation at all times. the accommodation was superb, clean, quiet and completely private.

Ras Kutani review

Loved the laid-back atmosphere here - no shoes required - truly a place where you can relax after a hectic safari. The "open" style rooms were huge & extremely comfortable & loved the verandah & hammocks. Although the style of the rooms are "rustic" & open they are spotlessly clean & allowed the breezes to keep the rooms cool. The bathroom area was very well equipped & hot water continuously available.

I have given the rooms a "good" rating rather than excellent only because they need to provide a power socket near a mirror - the bathroom had 3 huge mirrors - 2 over the basins & 1 between the storage shelves - but the only power points were in the bedroom area. The mirror area between the storage shelves could easily be changed to a dressing table with power socket. Power was provided to the sockets between 10.0 & 12.0 & 5.0-10pm only - this was not really a problem but felt that the morning power time would have been more useful earlier when we were in the room - as it was not safe to leave cameras & phones on charge when we were not in the room.

Apart from this we loved the style of the room & enjoyed the breezes & sound of the sea. The vegetation between the rooms & the beach was quite high which blocked the view - this may have been for security reasons though. The rustic beach beds are much more comfortable than they look.

The food was very good & a reasonable choice provided & liked the way they moved the tables to different places on the verandah each night. Manager Mark was extremely friendly & helpful & he & his staff created a nice relaxing atmosphere.

Enjoyed the walk to the local village & school - to see the "real" Africa & we were lucky to see a turtle release whilst we were there.Ras K is a great place to relax & enjoy a laid-back casual beach break.

Rus Kutani. A resort and beaches to die for!

As a final destination after 7 days of game drives, Rus Kutani really was faultless. The management. led by Mark, was of the highest order, nothing was too much trouble and service was always with a very considerable smile upon every face. Attention to detail was of the highest standard. There was always a smile of welcome wherever we went.

We arrived by what might have seemed a very hard and unnecessary two and a half hour drive from Dar es Salaam including a ferry crossing with a seemingly endless throng of locals, bikes laden with coconuts, bananas and mango,produce of every sort, chicken.....and colour everywhere. We returned to the airport by plane in 20 minutes. In no way would we have missed that drive and the ferry,

Rus Kutani was hot yes, but softened by a steady cooling breeze off the sea and fans in the bedroom. at night. We walked the beach and watched local canoes and tiny dhows launch into the waves and disappear beyond the far reef to rerurn many hours later with scarce enough to feed the family.

One of the waiters, lovely John, was our companion and excellent guide to his former village 40 mins walk away, through forest and plantations. The school there is deperately underfunded by the Government with 524 pupils up to the age of eleven and only nine teachers! We were collected at the end by a land rover sent for us. We started at 7.00 and by nine the walk would really have been hot! A very nice and thoughtful touch. This visit and walk should almost be obligatory for guests and I know Mark, the manager, encourages it. The Resort has a policy of direct investement/support into the village on specific organised projects , be it a roof, a repair, things for the school. Money does not disappear into bureaucracy. Guest are asked to contribute if they wish with envelopes in the room. This all says much for the management of the resort.

Food was simply top drawer, the chef having been here all his working life. We mentioned at the start that we loved local mango. These were then especially available morning, noon and night! I stupidly am not a great fish eater which is the staple but beautifully prepared varied diet in the evenings. The result I mwas treated like royalty with a variety of very tasty meet dishes. Excellent!

All in all a perfect way to end our ten day trip. I simply can not understand why Zanzibar should attract beach lovers when Rus Kutani is availabl!

Again our thanks to Ellie at Expert Africa for judging our needs so perfectly and tacking Rus Kutani on to the end of our game drives in Ruaha and Selous.

Relaxing days at Ras Kutani

Mark and his team made us very welcome and looked after us very well - private dining on the pontoon on our first night, then on the beach the second added a real element of romance for the first two nights of our honeymoon. The lobster was a definite stand out amongst some excellent meals.

The light rains, really were light with only a couple of 5 minute showers while we were there. And we had the added bonus of being there while the turtles hatched and made their first journey down to the sea!

We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.